On the New Jersey Devils …
Chris Ryan Of NJ.com: The Devils own the No. 1 pick in the draft, with Nolan Patrick and Nico Hischier the consensus top two players.
Mike Morreale of NHL said that 13 teams are scheduled to speak with Patrick, and 14 teams to speak with Hischier.
That seems like a lot of teams that want to speak with the potential top two picks. Only seven teams spoke with Auston Matthews last year.
Mike Morreale wondered in a tweet if the Devils and Flyers (No. 2) are getting a lot of calls about the top two picks.
Shero said in an interview with Pierre LeBrun that he’s received several calls about the top pick. Shero said they are more focused on the player they could pick at No. 1, but they won’t rule out anything.
Earlier this month Paul Castron, the Devils Director of Amateur Scouting, said it wouldn’t be a surprise if teams started checking the Devils interest levels at the scouting combine.
“I’m sure Ray will get some interesting calls to move the pick, as well,” Castron said. “I’ve been with two teams that I’ve been scouting that offered the whole draft of another team for either a pick or a player. Crazy stuff can happen.”
Chris Nichols of FanRag Sports: Pierre LeBrun spoke with Devils GM Ray Shero and asked if it made sense to possibly trade the 31-year old Cory Schneider as they are still few years away from really competing.
“I’ve said this publicly and I’ve talked to Cory about this,” said general manager Ray Shero when asked about the notion this week by TSN’s Pierre LeBrun. “I don’t think anybody is untradeable on our team, let’s be honest, but you do have a plan. When I say sometimes that just changes sometime by a phone call, people read something cryptically into that. There’s really nothing to be read.”
Shero continues that both Schneider and Andy Greene have no-trade clauses so they have some control. Shero has spoken with Schneider and he understands.
Shero adds that he’s never called a teams asked what they thought about Schneider.